Re: Re: Development: A Structured Problem Area?

Quoting Greg Jorgensen <gregj-/VAaTXopHTZWk0Htik3J/w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> I am sure automated implementation from requirements is possible, 
> assuming the requirements can be reduced to complete, unambiguous 
> specifications (like the specs for cars rolling off automated 
> assembly lines). 

Yes, this is what I fear.

> The implementation is not the hard part, it's the 
> specification. Depending on your experience as a programmer, you've 
> either done requirements/specification/implementation yourself all at 
> once, with little formality, or you've worked in shops that formally 
> separate these tasks and thereby make everything worse.

Yep, I've had those experiences. Separating requirements from implementation,
when requirements are incomplete (as all I've ever seen have been) and
programmers have no way to obtain clarification, is bad practice.

> If the requirement is "make a customer database" I don't see much 
> hope for automation. If the requirements include a database schema 
> and a list of operations on that data, AND a defined implementation 
> platform, you have what most programmers start coding from, but not 
> enough for an automated solution. If you refine the requirements 
> enough you can automate the code production, but the requirements 
> themselves are at that point 1:1 equivalent to code, only in some 
> different language.
>
> Perhaps the key is finding the right language for expressing 
> requirements. 

I think that is a large part of the issue. The other part is getting people to
adopt it and use it properly. I wonder if the OMG's MDA is heading this
direction (http://www.omg.org/mda/). Though i don't really like graphical
languages, that's an detail - we can always provide a mapping from prose to UML
or its successor.

> You may be interested in Intentional Programming as 
> described by Charles Simonyi; see 
> http://www.edge.org/digerati/simonyi/simonyi_p1.html.

Thanks for the pointer. It sounds very interesting. I'll have to read more about
it though - one page of a five page interview is merely enticing, not
substantive. But enticing enough to make me go to Borders and read the intro to
his book...

Derek Richardson


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